Of Angels and Demons
by FarewellfromFaith
Summary: Ichigo hated the rain. Had for a long time. But, it's who he runs into in that rainstorm on a mid-Autumn evening on his way home that would change his perception of the world, and everything the Soul Society had told him up to that point. And anyway, who would be dumb enough to run around town during a rainstorm without a coat? Apparently he is.
1. Prologue: Rain and Reflection

_**...Prologue: Rain and Reflection...**_

It was days like this that Ichigo really started to question his life decisions. Why did he even bother, he still had schoolwork to do?! Yet here he was, sitting in Urahara's shop, helping Renji with his chores when he should have been studying. He had finals, dammit!

Renji's baritone broke him out of his thoughts, "Ya know, ya don't have ta help me, Ichigo. I'll be fine on my own," he said, leaning on a broom handle.

Ichigo sighed, dropping the feather duster to his side, "Yeah, I know. I have no idea how I got suckered into this." Noticing Renji's smirk he turned on his heel and continued dusting the next shelf, which held bottles of some liquid he wasn't sure he wanted to know the effects of. "But I'm already here, so I might as well help finish up," he said stubbornly. With his back turned he couldn't see Renji's silent chuckle, head shake, or eye-roll. Both went diligently back to work, Renji humming a meaningless tune to himself.

* * *

It was done. It took two and a half hours, but it was done. The shop practically sparkled, perhaps even more than a gleeful Yumichika. Proud of his work, Ichigo stood hands-on-hips with pink feather duster still in hand. Renji snorted at the odd sight. "What? You got somethin' to say to me?"

"Nope, not a thing." Sarcasm dripped from the redhead's voice.

Ichigo rolled his eyes and turned back to look at the clean walls, neat shelves, and glossy floor...

And promptly deflated when a muddy pair of children scurried in the door and to the back of the shop, leaving a trail of brown footprints in their wake. Ichigo groaned and leaned against the central support, thoroughly spent. Now he really just wanted to go home. He glanced at the clock hung on the wall to see the time was just past 6:30 PM. The sky had long since gone dark. Seeing his friend's slight panic, Renji said, "Why don't you just head home? I can clean this mess on my own, man."

"Yeah... whatever, see ya tomorrow." Ichigo said as he tugged on his sweatshirt over his long sleeved tee-shirt and trudged to the door, stepping into his shoes and dropping the duster on a counter as he went.

"Sure thing!" Renji replied just as the door shut.

Hearing a steady patter, Ichigo looked up from his sneakers to see a wall of rain.

Ichigo hated the rain. Had for a long time. It wasn't just any rain, either. It was that mid-Autumn rain that was icy-cold and piercing, and left you soaked to the bone. And now he had less than thirty minutes to get home, and he had to run through an increasingly heavy rain storm. He was pretty sure life hated him. Pulling his hood up, he stepped out from under the store awning into the downpour. For the next fifteen minutes he speed-walked past empty shops, brightly lit houses, and the occasional person sprinting home under an umbrella.

He stood under an awning for some unknown store, waiting for the light at the intersection to change so he could cross, and then he would be home-free. He jumped a little when he heard a door a little ways down the street close with a bang.

"Aw, damn," a female voice groaned, and Ichigo saw a tall figure run from the house fifty feet to the left, arms above its head, and stop next to him. When she was safely under the awning, she dropped her arms, her long hair and thin shirt soaked through. Sizing her up, Ichigo saw she was almost as tall as him, maybe the same height as Rangiku, had black hair with dip-dyed red tips down past her hips, long, sweeping bangs angled across her right cheekbone, and pale brown, almost amber eyes ringed with dark kohl. She didn't look Japanese, but was pretty obviously at least half-Asian. And she was shivering like a dry leaf in a stiff wind. Ichigo looked away when he saw her going through the same process on him. She also turned away, leaning against the wall of glass behind them, and continued to shiver.

"So, um... Weren't expecting rain, were you?" He couldn't help it. The manners his mother taught him took over.

The woman, who looked a few years older, gave him an odd look out of the corner of her eye. _Oops. Maybe she doesn't speak Japanese we-_

"No, I wasn't." She spoke with a perfect Tokyo dialect. "It was sunny when I left, so I thought I would be fine." She sighed. "How wrong I was."

"Well, uh," Ichigo wasn't really sure what to say, then heard her teeth start to chatter. "How much farther do you have to go?"

"I'm staying on the other side of town, why?"

"Then here." He slipped off his sweatshirt, still mostly dry, and handed it to the incredulous woman.

"Wha-, wait, I-I couldn't, you'll freeze!"

He shook his head, "I'll be fine, just take the jacket."

She hesitated, then reached out and pulled the warm, black sweatshirt on over her wet clothes. She looked at her sneakers, refusing to meet his eyes again. "Thanks."

Out of the corner of his eye, Ichigo saw the light change and the walk signal switch on. The pair sprinted across the street, stopping again at the opposite side. "Don't mention it."

"Well, guess I'll see you around," she said with a small smile. She took off down the street to the right, pulling the hood up as she went. Ichigo heard something clatter to the sidewalk, and leaned down to pick up a small metal rectangle. On one side of the silver object was a red dragonfly in a vaguely Celtic design. He realized it was probably the girl's.

"Wait, you dropped-!" she didn't turn around at his yell, "This..." He sighed through his nose, the rain matting his oddly-colored hair to his scalp. _Well... I'll just give it to her if I get my jacket back..._

Shaking some of the water out of his hair, he turned on his heel and ran the short rest of the way home. He walked through the door with three minutes to spare.

"WELL, LOOK WHO FINALLY SHOWED UP IN TIME FOR DINNER!" Isshin shouted from the general direction of the dining room.

"Aw, shut up, old man! I was helping out a friend with some work, okay!" Ichigo yelled back as he entered the main area of the house, leaving his sopping shoes outside.

"Just ignore him, brother," said Yuzu from where she was setting the table. When she looked up, her expression was thoroughly puzzled. "Where's your jacket? I saw you leave with it on."

Ichigo pulled out his chair and sat down. "I ran into a girl who didn't have one, so I gave her mine."

"Aw, isn't our son sweet?" Isshin asked the poster of Masaki, the others in the room completely ignoring his antics. Yuzu set the last dish on the table as Karin and Rukia descended the stairs, Rukia casting Ichigo a searching glance as she sat down. He shrugged, and she didn't ask anything out loud.

* * *

Dinner had been, surprisingly, somber, no one really wanting to strike up a conversation with anyone else. After eating his share, Ichigo went up to his room to study for finals. He tuned his radio to a soft rock channel and ignored everything else around him but his books. That is, until something dug into his backside. Pulling the offending object out of his back pocket, he was met once again with the sight of the strange metal rectangle. But now, in better light, he could see a thin line running around one end, and pulled. The thing separated into two pieces, and he could now see that it was a flash drive. He weighed his options for a few seconds before curiosity won out against common courtesy.

He pulled over his dad's laptop that he had been borrowing for an English paper, and plugged the drive into the side. He just hoped it didn't have a password on it.

* * *

**Okay, new story! Who was it that Ichigo ran into? What's on the flash drive? Stay tuned to find out! Please leave a review, and feel free to give constructive criticism!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, nor do I own it's characters!**


	2. Who Said Chivalry Is Dead?

_**...Chapter One: Who Said Chivalry Is Dead?...**_

Ichigo felt more than a little guilty for looking through the flash drive. At least there wasn't anything dirty on it. The majority of the content stored on it was pictures of flowers, landscapes, and people with feathered wings. The rest of it was videos of the woman he had met ( whose name he hadn't asked for) and a group of people her age goofing off, debating world issues, and playing various instruments or dancing. There was about twenty college-age kids who came and went depending on the video, and all were pretty good at some instrument or style of dance. The woman, who Ichigo had dubbed Aka-chan*, excelled at some style of hip-hop and played dubstep on a violin, of all things.

In the middle of watching a video of Aka-chan talking to a tall blonde man while playing with a silver kitten, Ichigo yawned hard enough to make his jaw pop. He looked over to the digital clock next to his bed and cringed slightly when he saw it read 11:23 pm. Rukia and his sisters had no doubt gone to bed almost two hours ago and his dad would be finishing up the paperwork from the day, and he was making a racket, keeping them from sleep. _Aw, just great. Aren't I the best big brother ever? _he thought sarcastically. _At least it's Saturday tomorrow._

He was about to close down the laptop when he paused, then pulled a stack of blank CD's over to him. Placing one into the empty disk tray and pushing the tray back into the computer, he went through the process of copying everything off the flash drive, then burning them to the CD. The computer gave him an estimated time for the process, and he groaned internally at it. Four hours.

_Screw it. _He left the computer open, turned off his desk lamp, and crawled under the sheets, the soft whirring of the laptop fan quickly lulling him to sleep.

* * *

Ichigo woke the next morning to the sound of... birds chirping? And sunlight? He sat up, pillow falling off his face as he did. He looked around his room, even getting out of bed to check under it, trying to find if his dad was hiding under something. For once, he wasn't, and had let his son sleep in on a weekend. Ichigo knew something wasn't right. Quirking an eyebrow, he stood to see the computer was on a screensaver, which was a slideshow of old family photos, some with his mother and some without. Some were those creepy professional photos, and some were genuine snapshots into the families life.

Ichigo moved the mouse to check on the disk-burning, and seeing it was done, ejected both the new DVD and flash drive. He quickly dressed for the day in his favorite Nice Vibe tee-shirt, a flannel over-shirt, and well-loved jeans. He slipped the DVD into a clear case, pocketed the flash drive, and put his dad's laptop into a messenger bag. He grabbed an older pair of sneakers from his closet, since the ones he'd put on the stoop were no doubt still wet. And there's nothing worse than wet sneakers. He carried them in his left hand and slung the bag over his shoulder before firmly shutting his bedroom door. He thundered down the stairs, knowing everyone else was already awake. He met Yuzu in the kitchen reheating a plate of food. "Hey, where's Dad?"

"He had to go in for work early today, some minor car accident from one of the older side streets flooding. He said to wake you, but I decided to let you sleep in, you were up pretty late."

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that." he said bashfully. "Did I keep you three up?"

"No, I saw your light on when I got up to use the restroom." Yuzu said as she set the now steaming food on the table with chopsticks and a spoon. Rice, nori, natto and miso soup, his favorite breakfast. "Karin and Rukia were out by 9:30."

Ichigo paused with a bite of natto halfway to his mouth, "Oh, yeah, where are those two?"

"They left just before you got up, said they were going to Urahara's."

He nodded, not saying anything else until he had finished the last drop of soup. "Hah," he sighed, "Well, guess I'll head out, too. You comin' with, Yuzu?"

She looked up from the dishes in the sink, "Not this time, Ichi-nii. I figured I'd do the laundry before the rain comes back."

Ichigo shrugged, picking up the bag from where it rested against the table leg, "Well, alright. Just don't overwork yourself." he said as he walked to the front door.

"I won't!" she replied as he stepped into his shoes. The sound of his chuckle was masked by the click of the latch sliding back into place.

The walk to Urahara's was much more pleasant without rain. The streets were busy with late morning traffic, and people walking in small groups past in both directions, some casting him wary glances for his brightly-colored hair and Western clothes, but most ignored him in favor of their friends or phones.

When he got there, the occupants of the house were walking out the front door, joined by Chad, Orihime, his sister, and the other visiting Soul Reapers, all wearing a combination of jeans and a tee-shirt, even Rangiku.

"Er, what's goin' on?"

Renji was the first to see him, "Someone's movin' in down the street, so Urahara enlisted us to help them unpack their truck."

That was probably the nicest thing Ichigo had ever heard of Urahara doing. "Really? And it wasn't Yoruichi's idea? Or... Or Tessai's?"

The shop owner spoke up, defending himself, "Nope! Entirely my idea! Now, c'mon, we don't want to keep them waiting!" He slid past Ichigo in the opposite direction from where he came, the others following closely. Rangiku and Yoruichi offered him smiles as they walked past, the latter holding a plate of what looked to be chocolate chip cookies. At least, that's what he hoped they were. You never know with Orihime.

Shaking his head to clear it, and getting hair stuck to his eyelashes in the process, Ichigo bounded a few steps to catch up to his former mentor. "So, who made those?"

"Hmm? Oh, these?" The cat-lady pointed at the plate with her free hand, and continued after Ichigo nodded, "Your sisters and Rukia made them this morning. Nothing to worry about."

Rangiku, hearing the conversation, cut in, "Why would there be? Are you talking about Orihime's cooking? It's actually really good, you know!"

Ichigo blanched, "I'll take your word for it." Loud music could be heard from where they were, and Ichigo craned his neck in an attempt to see where it came from. He could see various cars and trucks parked at the other end of the street, all surrounding one large moving truck, which was directly in front of one of the larger and newer houses on the block. About fifteen people milled around in front, some carrying cardboard boxes, some talking, and some dancing mindlessly in the middle of the street to the K-Pop emitted from the moving truck's speakers. One man leaning against the back of it caught Ichigo's attention. It was the tall blonde that Aka-chan had been joking around with in the last video he had watched. Off the girl's flash drive. That he picked up off the street.

Yep, nothing creepy about that!

Urahara walked right up to the blonde and asked, "Hey, neighbor! Anything we could help with?"

The blonde met Urahara's eyes, contemplated something, then said, "Thanks, but it's not my place. I'm just helping my friends move in." He stood up straight, "But I'm sure they'll appreciate all the help they can get. I'm Andre, by the way."

He was cut off by a loud, female voice from the front of the house, "If none o' ya are gonna help move boxes, then at least help with lunch or just go home!" Ichigo's head snapped around at the familiar voice.

"Hey, Ver, cut them some slack!" shouted the now named Andre.

The brunet stomped down the steps and over the the new group, "I've been 'cutting them some slack' for the past hour, and not even a quarter of the boxes are inside. We need to get some work done here." Ichigo had to admit, the tall woman cut an imposing figure. She had a healthy, athletic build, like a soccer player's. She wore black combat boots, torn jeans, and a band tee-shirt, and somehow managed to make it look glamorous. She had multiple piercings in each ear, one in her nose, and wore a thin black chain wrapped several times around her throat.

"Well, you're in luck then!" 'Ver' jumped at the sound of Urahara's loud, obnoxious voice. "We live down the street from you, so we thought to come and help you get settled!"

'Ver' looked them over, "Um... All of you live down the street? In one house?"

"Oh, don't be silly! Only some of us live down the street, I just asked the others to help." She nodded mutely, clearly confused.

"Here, these are for you." Yoruichi politely held out the plate covered in saran-wrap, which 'Ver' gladly took.

"Thank you very much!" At last her eyes landed on Ichigo. "Oh. You again!"

Every eye in a fifteen foot radius turned to him. He shifted uncomfortably, "Yep. Me again. I, uh, didn't get your name yesterday?"

She smiled dazzlingly. "I'm Vera. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." She held out her right hand to shake Ichigo's.

* * *

**And I'ma just gonna leave it there for y'all! Please feel free to tell me what you think!  
**

***1) Aka-chan literally translates to Little Red.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, nor do I own it's characters!**


	3. Will Work For Food

_**...Chapter Two: Will Work For Food...**_

Ichigo was a little taken aback by the foreign custom, but gladly shook Vera's outstretched hand, bowing slightly when he did. His surprise came back when she did the same.

"I'll take these inside to the kitchen. Andre, explain to them have things are gonna work?" She clearly already knew the answer, as it was asked over her shoulder as she walked back in the gate. Her long hair was pulled into a ponytail and swung freely across her back. When she disappeared into the house, Andre turned back to them.

"Okay, so we need to move the furniture first. That's in those three trucks over there." He pointed in their general direction. "You three," motioning to Renji, Ichigo, and Chad, "mind helping me with that?"

"Sure, why not?" said Renji.

"I guess..." _Why am I agreeing to this? _Ichigo wondered. Chad simply shrugged.

Andre quirked an eyebrow, "Well, alright then." He turned his head to look behind him. When he found who he was looking for he shouted, "Hey, Taewon, get over here!"

A man of average height, with black hair and brown eyes, and wearing a shirt that resembled Vera's and orange skinny jeans, said something to the two women he'd been talking to, then jogged over.

_"Geulae?" Was that Korean? _thought Ichigo.

_"Dangsin-i doum-i pil-yohan daleun salam ege idonghabnida.*"_

The shorter man shrugged, then said to Yoruichi with a noticeable accent, "Do you mind helping look for the boxes that have 'kitchen' on the side?"

"Nope! Let's get started!" Yoruichi, Urahara, Tessai, Karin, and the Soul Reapers stood by the big moving truck while Taewon unlatched the back, revealing a mountain of boxes. Ichigo, Renji, and Chad followed Andre to the first truck, which had what looked to be an entire living room and dining set stuffed into the bed, all tied down with bright blue ropes.

"Mind tellin' me your names?" asked Andre as he untied the first rope.

Renji was the first to answer, "I'm Renji Abarai, I'm staying with that Hat-and-Clogs guy."

"I'm Ichigo, that's Chad." Chad nodded, predictably not saying anything.

Andre loosened the last rope, "He, uh, doesn't talk much, huh?"

"Not really." Chad's bass resonated in the still morning air. Andre gave him an odd, confused look, then shrugged and grabbed a tall back-less stool and handed it to Renji.

"Well, that aside," he handed a second stool to Ichigo, then a third and forth to Chad before grabbing the last and hopping off the back of the truck, "These go around the kitchen island, we'll bring in the table and chairs next."

He led them into the spacious entry of the home. Renji froze in the doorway, "Uh, don't we have to take off our shoes first?"

Andre opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by Vera, who was walking down the staircase, holding a black sweatshirt. "Not today."

* * *

"I'll let it slide just this once." I said, "It'd get pretty annoying to take off your shoes every time you came in just to put them back on to grab a new box." I scuffed the dirty hardwood with my left boot, "Besides, the last people who lived here didn't clean very well before we bought the place, so it needs a good cleaning."

"If you're okay with it, then," said the carrot-top, "Where's the kitchen?"

"Just around the corner." I pointed over my shoulder with my thumb. "I'll show you. Oh, B-T-dubs, I think this is yours?" I hooked the hood of the sweatshirt in my hand on one finger, holding it out to Carrot-top. The pineapple haired one snorted while the curly haired one silently followed Andre to the kitchen to put the stools down.

"Yeah," he balanced the stool on his right hip to reach for the sweatshirt, "I'm Ichigo, by the way. The guy who just left is Chad."

"Oh, well it's nice to finally know your name." I said sarcastically. I looked at Pineapple as a hint.

"Renji." He put the stool down to offer his right hand to me, which I shook with an awkward half-bow.

"If you three are just gonna stand around, can you do it somewhere else?" snapped Andre as he rounded the corner. Ichigo, Renji, and I were still standing in the entryway.

"Well, if it isn't the sass-master?" Andre glowered at me, "Please, tell me again what you would have me do _in my own house_?"

He flinched almost imperceptibly. "Just get the furniture inside." He stalked off out the door, Chad following after casting a glance at Ichigo, who just shrugged.

"C'mon, guys, before Mr. Tall Blonde and Snarky comes back to yell at me some more." I walked into the airy kitchen and dining area, pointing at the island near the stove, "That's where the stools go."

Both men, who were taller than me, and broad-shouldered to boot, set the stools down and pushed them under the island to keep them out of the way. Three others from their group were helping Taewon unpack containers of food for those who were helping move. I had no idea when they got inside, probably while Andre was untying the stools. "Care to introduce me to your friends?"

"Ah, right, sorry." I could swear Ichigo was blushing. "That's Yoruichi, Rangiku, and my sister Karin."

"Well, it's nice to meet you all." I smiled amicably, "Thank you all for helping out. I'm pretty sure the others who I invited over just came for the food."

Yoruichi smiled, Karin remained stoic, and Rangiku said, "It's really no trouble at all. We had nothing else to do today, anyway, so it's nice to make a new friend."

_She considers me her friend already? What an optimist. _I didn't voice my dark thought, instead saying with a sugary-sweet smile, "I'm so glad you think that way," I jumped at the sound of the front door hitting the wall, "We'd better go now. Talk to you later?"

"Sure!" Yoruichi called after us as the two men and I walked back out, pressing against the wall when Chad and Andre brought in the dining table. When we were outside, my ears were assaulted with loud Swedish bubblegum pop, and I cringed internally before saying, "I'll be right there, just gotta change this." I hopped into the cab of the truck and unplugged Andre's iPod. I scrolled through the playlists until I found my favorite. Swing. I plugged it back in, pressed play, and the first song that poured out from the speakers made me giggle. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's _Mr. Pinstripe Suit._

I climbed back out to the sight of a very confused pair of brightly-colored haired men staring at me, and three couples pairing up while the others still on the street made room for them.

"Why are you grinning?" asked an incredulous Ichigo, Renji staring at the couples with both eyebrows raised.

"Because that's exactly the outcome I was hoping for. Now, come on, let's get this stuff inside."

* * *

The rest of the morning went by quickly, with a short break at noon for sandwiches and lemonade. Rukia looked more than a little disappointed it wasn't juice boxes. With all the furniture inside, those who hadn't left (most of the group of fifteen who had been there in the morning took off after lunch) started on the mountain of boxes still in the moving truck.

Andre shifted a rather large one over to him, then grunted when he tried to pick it up, "Yeah, no."

Vera snorted, "Wimp." She shouldered him out of the way and picked up the box with little struggle, stuck out her tongue, then made her way back to the house, bumping the door open with her butt. Andre rolled his eyes, pulled a smaller box over, read the side, and handed it to Rangiku. "This goes in Taewon's room, second floor. There's a sign with his name on the door."

The rest of the unpacking took about four hours. Since it was still too early for dinner, Vera invited the group over for dinner the following Saturday.

"Thanks again! This would have taken so much longer without your help!" Vera shouted from the stoop as the group walked away. Ichigo watched her reflection in the glass of a boutique as she waved with her hand stretched above her head. When everyone had turned away, her hand fell and her expression went blank. She turned around without any real motivation and closed the front door behind her.

"You felt it, too?" Hitsugaya spoke up for the first time all day.

"Yep. Somethin's odd about that group." answered Ikkaku. "Especially that Vera girl."

* * *

**Please don't hate me too much? I'll reveal everything all in good time, I swear! Please leave a review, and tell me if there's any mistakes!  
**

***1) "Yeah?"**

**"Go tell the others what you need help with."**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, nor do I own it's characters!**


	4. Before The Dawn

_**... Chapter Three: Before The Dawn...**_

Once again, Ichigo made it home with minutes to spare, Rukia and Karin at his heels. They all breathed a sigh of relief when Isshin was nowhere to be seen. Yuzu, standing alone at the stove, jumped when the three skidded into the dining room.

"You scared me!" The petite girl glared at the others.

Ichigo rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, "Sorry 'bout that." He dropped his hand to his side, scanning the room for his father. "Uh, where's Dad?"

Yuzu rolled her eyes and turned back to the stove as Karin and Rukia pulled out their chairs and sat down. "Still at the clinic. People have been coming in all day because of the rainstorm yesterday."

Ichigo faltered on his way to his chair. Something about the whole rainstorm and meeting Vera just felt very off. "Ah... I'll take his dinner to him when I'm done, I guess." Rukia gave him an odd look as he sat down which he shrugged off. His thoughts went back to Urahara's waiting for dinner to be set on the table.

_Ichigo sat in a back room of Urahara's shop, Renji on his right and Ikkaku on his left. The Soul Reapers sat scattered around the room, and Urahara was directly across from him. Ururu, Jinta, and Karin had been sent outside by Yoruichi, Chad and Orihime had already gone home.  
_

_"What... did you mean by odd? What's odd about Vera's group?" Ichigo asked._

_Yumichika sighed in annoyance, "If you weren't so useless when it comes to Spiritual Pressure, you would know."_

_Ichigo glared at the flamboyant Soul Reaper. "What was odd about them?" he ground out._

_"Several of them had very high Spiritual Pressure, including Vera." Hitsugaya answered while giving Yumichika a rather pointed look._

_Renji spoke up, "Yeah, but something was different about hers. Almost like it was being, well, muffled or somethin'."_

_"Or she has a repression charm on." Rukia said while rubbing her chin thoughtfully. _

_Ikkaku sat up a bit straighter, "But where would she get one from?" When he said this, all eyes in the room snapped to Urahara in suspicion._

_The shop-keep held up his hands in innocent denial. "Now, why on Earth would you think I, a simple shopkeeper, would do such a thing?" He dropped his hands when Rukia cleared her throat a little louder than necessary. "Touche. But, until today, I had never seen that girl. If she does have a Spiritual Pressure repressor, it didn't come from this shop."_

_Ichigo bristled, "And why should we believe you?"_

_"If you don't believe him, would you believe me?" asked Yoruichi. Ichigo reluctantly nodded, "I've never met this Vera, if that's her real name, before, so I highly doubt Kisuke had either, or would sell such a thing to her. I have to admit, though, her Spiritual Pressure did feel very muffled, like it was being filtered through something, so the repressor idea is sound."  
_

_"We'll just have to wait until the right moment to talk to her, we don't wanna scare her off." said Hitsugaya as he stood, effectively ending the discussion. Most of the Soul Reapers followed suit, leaving Ichigo, Renji, and Rukia in the back room._

_"Are you really gonna wait for a week to speak to her again?" Rukia asked the both of them._

_Renji snorted, "Fat chance. I'll probably run into her on the street anyway."_

_Before anything else could be said by the three still seated, Karin skidded into the room, followed closely by Jinta and Ururu. "Ichi-nii, we need to get going! It's almost 7:00!"_

_Ichigo and Rukia whipped around to stare at each other before lurching to their feet and bolting out of the room, shoving their shoes on as they went, Ichigo once again slinging the messenger bag over his shoulder._

Ichigo was pulled out of his memories when Yuzu set a platter of food in front of him. Karin and Rukia started pulling what they wanted onto their plates as Yuzu sat down. He looked over all the food, seeing a mix of pork and chicken teriyaki, grilled fish, and fried rice. He picked the pork and dished himself a large portion of rice, feeling famished after the days work and the light lunch. He ate quickly, not supplying much to the girls' conversation. When he felt full he stood and rinsed his plate off before setting it down in the sink. He grabbed a second plate out of the cupboard and a clean pair of chopsticks. He placed a little of everything on the plate for his dad, said, "I'll be right back," to his sisters and Rukia over his shoulder, stepped into his beat up sneakers, and speed-walked to the clinic. When he got there, the sign on the door read 'Closed'.

_Huh... that's odd, why isn't he at dinner?_ Ichigo froze in his tracks, going on the defensive. He slowly opened the door, creeping along the floorboards towards the only light on in the small medical office. He hesitantly nudged the door open, froze, and shook his head in disbelief at the sight that met him. His father had fallen asleep at his desk, and was drooling on some no-doubt important papers. Ichigo strided over and roughly shook Isshin's shoulder.

"Oi, old man! I brought you dinner, but from the looks of things I should let you go hungry!"

Isshin groggily stared up his son, "Wha're you doin' here, Ichigo? Why aren' you eatin' dinner with your sisters?"

Ichigo grumbled, "That's why I'm here. I was bringing you the food Yuzu worked hard to make, only to find you sleeping on the job!"

Isshin yawned hard enough to pop his jaw, "Sorry... I got an emergency call at 3:30 this morning, and people have been pouring in the door all day."

Ichigo fought to stay mad, then sighed in defeat, "Alright, fine." He held out the plate and chopsticks, "Eat your food, then finish up whatever you were working on. I'll go make a pot of coffee."

Isshin's eyes lit up, "Really? You'd do that for me?"

Ichigo rolled his eyes but couldn't hide the smile on his face, "I'll be back in a few." He walked back out of the clinic, following the path back to the house. He stopped half way, feeling something in the back of his mind. A shimmer of something tickling his brain. It felt extremely odd, and he couldn't place it. He glanced around the street, and, seeing nothing, shrugged and continued to the house.

* * *

The figure in black pulled itself back on top of the telephone pole. It had dropped down, keeping a hold on it, when the orange-haired teen had looked up at where it was crouching. It sat on its heels as it waited, hood over eyes, for the teen to reemerge from the two-story. When he did roughly ten minutes later, he was carrying a large mug and a full coffee pot that steamed in the dim light of the evening. He jogged along the path between the two buildings and switched the mug so it was in the same hand as the coffee pot to pull open the door to the families clinic. He stepped back out into the night fairly quickly, shivered, and rubbed his hands together as he ran back to the house. The figure in black sat like that, completely motionless and patient, watching the two buildings for any other signs of life, until the cellular phone vibrated in its back pocket.

The figure pulled out the iPhone, pressed the green icon on the screen, and held the device to its ear. It listened to the voice on the other line give their orders, not saying a word. When the other voice was finished with the orders, the figure in black ended the call, pushed the cellular phone back into its pocket, and stood up to its full height of 5'9". It squatted down, preparing to jump. It pushed off with as little force as it could to prevent itself from making any unnecessary noise, and dropped into the cool night air. It landed, cat-like, on the balls of its feet. Warping the air currents around it, the figure in black accelerated itself while muffling the sound of its footfalls, taking off into the night.

* * *

Sunday morning. 9:45. Much too early. To be awake, to be out of the house, to be doing chores. For Urahara. Ichigo had once again been roped into helping Renji clean up the shop for the day, and this time he had way too much on his mind. Vera, her flash drive, the strange feeling that he was being watched last night...

"What's goin' through your mind, Ichigo?" asked Renji, once again leaning on the broom handle.

Ichigo again dropped the pink feather duster to his side, "A lot of stuff. Most of it wouldn't interest you but..."

Now Renji was enraptured, "But... What? Somethin' happen?"

Ichigo sighed through his nose, "Last night, I was walking back to the house to make coffee for my dad..."

"Yeah, what? C'mon, man, tell me!"

"I felt like I was being watched, but when I looked around I couldn't see anyone. And-" he tripped over his words.

"And?" Renji persisted.

"I felt something else. A tickle almost, but it was in the back of my head."

Renji had been absentmindedly sweeping the same patch of floor while they had been talking, and at these words he froze. "What did you say?"

"I said, I felt a-"

Renji waved his words away, "No, no, I heard you the first time. Dude, that's-"

"Urahara~! Yorui~chi! Tess~ai! Someone's here to see you!" Jinta ran into the shop shouting at the top of his lungs. Ururu was behind him pulling a tall woman by the wrist.

"This really isn't necessary. I could have found them on my own!" The woman pulled Ururu to a stop, pouting as she did so. Somehow, Ichigo wasn't surprised to see the familiar plate in her hand, the well-loved, studded boots, band shirt, nose ring, and dip-dyed hair.

Vera.

* * *

**Okay, new chapter! This one took a lot longer to write than normal and I had a lot of technical difficulties while typing it up... Like, a lot... Please leave a review, and feel free to give constructive criticism!  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, nor do I own it's characters!**


	5. Welcome To The Dollhouse

_**...Chapter Four: Welcome To The Dollhouse...**_

Ururu kept a hold of my hand as Renji and Ichigo stared me down. I stared back, plate in hand, at the rather odd sight of the two punkish looking men, one holding a neon yellow broom and the other holding a florescent pink feather duster. I couldn't fight the smirk playing across my lips when Ichigo attempted to hide the pink monstrosity behind his back.

I held the plate up, "I brought this back for Yoruichi, mind telling where I could find her?" I laced my voice with arrogance.

"She's around back, but that's mine." My smile faltered at Ichigo's words. He reached for the decorative tableware in my left hand.

"A-ah," I was tripping over my words, "Well, here. Thanks for the cookies, they were great. I just might steal the recipe from you."

Renji, who had been watching me with a wary eye, spoke up, a hint of admiration in his deep voice, "You ate two dozen cookies in one day?"

I shifted my weight to my right foot and leaned my head on my left shoulder, giving him what I hoped was a haughty look, "Not just me, hun. I live with four other people, two of which are guys, and we just moved in. We still haven't gone shopping for groceries, let alone found all of our kitchenware. We had junk food last night, and the cookies went first."

"Is that so?" Renji glowered at me from behind Ichigo.

"I heard someone's looking for me?!" Urahara breezed into the room, Jinta in tow. His voice was louder than socially acceptable, ringing in the small shop.

Ichigo, oblivious to the glare and harsh undertone of his friend, rolled his eyes at the shop owner. "Vera came to return the plate the cookies were on. That's it."

"Well..." Everyone turned to me at my mumble. "I was hoping to invite y'all over for a house tour, since the place was such a mess yesterday."

Urahara's grin widened impossibly, and he hid his face with his paper fan. "Excellent! I'll go get the others from the back, Renji can call the others over, right, Freeloader?"

The redhead noticeably flinched, grumbled something unprintable, leaned the broom against the wall and disappeared behind a hidden door, presumably connected to the house behind the shop. Urahara smiled like a madman and lead Ururu away, leaving me with Jinta and Ichigo.

"So, how tall are you, lady?"

I fought the urge to correct the kid for his rudeness, "I'm 5'9". And how tall are you?" I asked while bending at the waist, hands on knees.

He smirked, "I'm 4'1" right now. But I'm gonna grow even taller than Carrot-top over there someday!"

I straightened and crossed my arms, staring at Ichigo's hair, "And how tall are you, Carrot-top?"

He grimaced at the nickname, "Please don't call me that. I'm 5'11"."

Renji walked in as I answered, "I hope you know that now that you've asked, I'm gonna call you that more often." I reached out to ruffle the orange spikes. Renji hurried over and swatted my hand away.

"Knock that off. He asked nicely, so don't call him that again." Something in his eyes told me I needed to watch out for this one. Yoruichi walked in to see us staring each other down and froze in the doorway. The other members of the household were behind her, and everyone was completely still. Until my phone went off, and the sound of VIXX's Hyde echoed off the walls. Without breaking eye contact, I pulled the sleek iPhone out of my back pocket and tapped the green icon.

"_Ne*_?" I listened to Teawon asking where I was and what was taking so long.

"_Mian haeyo. God iss-eulgeoya._" I hung up and pushed the phone back in my pocket, then smiled at the others in the room, "Sorry about that, Teawon's getting impatient. Shall we?" I gestured to the door. Most shrugged and strided out into the street, but Renji hung back to glare as he passed me, walking a little too close for comfort. When he was out the door, I pulled my phone back out and typed as I walked. I sent two simple words.

**_They know._**

* * *

Twenty minutes later, and Ichigo and his friends sat spread around the island, counters, and dining table in Vera's kitchen as she and her roommates joked around and unpacked boxes of pots, pans, utensils, and tableware. They had gotten bored while waiting for everyone and started looking for the necessities to make dinner. Yumichika started to fidget.

"Ya know, we only know Vera and Teawon's names. Would the other three of you mind introducing yourselves?" He said it as nicely as he could, but it still came out slightly rude. Vera snorted and nudged the woman on her right with her elbow. She stood at about 5'4", had a stereotypically slender body, and bright blue hair.

"I'm Areum, it's nice to meet you all." Her accent wasn't as thick as Taewon's but was still there.

The tallest member of their group, a man who was around 6'0" and had hair cut very close to his scalp that was bleached, was putting a large stack of bowls in a cupboard close to the sink, "The name's Jaehyuk. Thanks for all the help yesterday."

"Eh, no prob." Ikkaku was picking something out from under his nails, making Taewon snort and Yumichika shake his head in disgust.

The smallest of the roommates was a petite woman who was about 5'1" and had a curvier body than the other two women, light pink bangs, and a permanent blush on her cheeks since Chad had walked in the front door. She looked down at her lace trimmed socks and mumbled, "I'm Soyi. Th-thanks for coming over." Her blush darkened when she looked back up, and ran out of the room to the staircase, sliding on the newly cleaned hardwood floor.

Vera sighed and threw down the dishtowel she had been folding, "I'll be right back." She walked out as a slamming door could be heard from one of the upper levels.

The other three roommates still in the kitchen shared a loaded look then continued working in silence. Rangiku eventually got bored and broke the stillness, "So, what're you all doing in Japan?"

Jaehyuk laughed, a deep resonating chuckle, "I was wondering when one of you was gonna ask that. We're college students."

Orihime was suddenly very interested, "Really? What do you all do?"

Areum grinned, "I'm a drama major! I can recite Aristotle, Sophocles, and Shakespeare like nobodies business!" The others in the room couldn't help but laugh at the girl's exclamation.

Taewon shook his head in amusement, "I'm also a drama major. Soyi is a dance major."

"And I'm a modern art major." said Jaehyuk, "Vera-"

"Is a music comp major." Vera interrupted as she walked back into the kitchen. "Soyi is gonna stay in her room for a while," she said this to Jaehyuk. Ichigo had started to notice a hierarchy in the house, with Vera as first in command. Jaehyuk was a close second, followed by Areum and Taewon, and lastly Soyi. It was strangely similar to the divisions in the Soul Society...

Nope, probably didn't mean anything.

Vera had gone back to folding the freshly washed towels when a loud knock could be heard from the front door. She growled in annoyance and rolled her eyes up to stare at the ceiling as if pleading with it for patience.

Jaehyuk chuckled again, "I'll get it, don't get your panties in a twist." He mussed up her hair as he passed, earning a slap on the arm. He walked out to answer the door and she looked at her reflection in the window above the sink, finger-combing her bangs back into place.

"I'm pretty sure y'all are wondering why we moved to Japan." said Vera. Ichigo saw Taewon and Areum look at each other with barely noticeable panic. "And to be honest, it's just because Japan has a more accepting modern generation. And better arts schools." The other two Korean students sighed in relief.

Yoruichi was now very interested in the conversation, and the Korean students' reactions. "How so?"

"Well, our colored hair, for one thing." answered Vera, "In Korea, if we walked down the street with bright hair, we get called slackers, and can't get a lot of jobs. Here, people our age think it's cool, and we can get it done at a salon. Most places in Korea don't have unnatural colors, and the ones that do overcharge."

"Really?" Yumichika was incredulous. Seeing bright hair was an everyday occurrence on the local streets.

"Yep. Probably because most people who dye their hair back home are idols, so their company is the one paying for it."

"Huh. It's pretty normal here." Renji hadn't said anything up to this point.

"Honey~! I'm home!" Andre shouted from the entryway.

"The hell?" Vera's expression changed from calm to bewildered in a split second, and she once again dropped the dishtowel she was folding to go see what the racket was about. Ichigo, Renji, Rangiku, and Ikkaku followed her out to the living room, where Andre and Jaehyuk were coming in carrying large bags full of groceries. Vera shook her head in disbelief as they struggled to hold onto everything. She went up to Andre and took about half of the brown paper bags from his arms. "Moron."

He shifted the bags to a more comfortable position, "Eh, you love me anyway."

"Whatever." She laughed, turning and carrying the bags into the kitchen, placing them down next to the fridge. "I assume there's more in the car?"

"Yep, plenty!" Andre said, earning an eye roll. He and Jaehyuk placed their bags down next to Vera's and followed her back outside, Ichigo, Renji, Rangiku, and Ikkaku close behind. Parked in front of the house was a black car, trunk open and full of more bags. Everyone grabbed a few and carried them inside, so the whole process didn't take very long. When it was done, it was past noon, so Yoruichi made an executive decision that it was time for the visitors to leave the new neighbors to their unpacking. As he walked out the door, Renji glared one last time at Vera, which she returned.

This time, Ichigo saw it.

* * *

**Yes, there's gonna be several K-Pop references. Who was Vera texting? Why doesn't Renji trust Vera? Why were Areum and Taewon so freaked out? Wouldn't you like to know? Please don't hate me too much... Please leave a review, and feel free to give constructive criticism!****_  
_**

***1) "Yeah?"**

**"I''m sorry. I'll be there soon.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, nor do I own it's characters!**


	6. A Fairy Tale Too Hard To Believe

_**...Chapter Five: A Fairy Tale Too Hard To Believe...**_

Luckily, the school week was uneventful. Mostly. Ichigo's normal, human friends were still being their _lovely_, loud selves, and the Advance Team was still going to school and generally causing waves in the status quo. It was something far more scary, and potentially deadly, that was on his mind.

His inner Hollow. Ya know, the one who wanted to take over his mind and body and just might kill every single person he cared about? Yeah, that one. He had spent his nights staring at his ceiling when he should have been sleeping, thinking about ways to control his demons, literally, and the new kid who hadn't shown up again. The offer he had made was sounding very, very tempting. But he had one thing he had promised his friends, and a young woman that he had run into on the street, that would need to be done first.

Come Saturday, he sat on the stoop of Urahara's with Yuroichi and Renji, his sisters inside with Ururu and Jinta, once again waiting for his friends and the Soul Reapers to go spend an evening with five college students that none of them really trusted, for reasons Ichigo was still clueless to. Slowly but surely the others walked up, Orihime and Rangiku talking animatedly while Toshiro trailed stoically behind; Chad showed up a few minutes later and nodded in greeting; Yumichika and Ikakku walked up last, Ikkaku tossing his bokken back and forth from hand to hand. Yuroichi jogged to fetch the kids and shopkeepers, and the large group made the trip down the street to Vera's place. While they walked, Ichigo pulled Renji back to walk behind everyone else, finding now to be the perfect time to bring up a subject he had danced around all week.

Renji raised a red eyebrow when his friend lightly tugged on his elbow, "What's goin' on, man?"

Ichigo shrugged, "Not much. Somethin's been buggin' me, though." He paused.

Renji elbowed him as he passed, then turned to walk backwards and face Ichigo, "So? What is it?"

"You gave Vera a really weird look last week. What was up with that?" Ichigo tried to look his friend in the eye, but Renji wouldn't meet his gaze, instead staring at a telephone pole on the other side of the street. He didn't speak until they were two houses down from Vera's.

"There's just something weird about her group, okay?" They were outside the gate, "Don't trust her too quickly, alright?"

The others were already inside the yard and Rangiku was knocking on the wide door with a little too much enthusiasm. "I'll try. Still don't get why you hate her, though."

Renji's protest was muffled by the sequels of delight that resounded from the door. Areum had opened it and pulled Orihime into a tight hug, and Jaehyuk and Ikkaku fist-bumped. Ichigo shrugged and crossed the yard, Renji close behind. They all tugged off their shoes in the entryway and trailed after Areum and Jaehyuk to the kitchen/dining room. After their two other ventures to the three-story, it wasn't all that surprising to see Andre with the other three, all four doing various chores in preparation for dinner. Admittedly, the guests were half an hour early. Soyi was cutting vegetables, Taewon was rolling sushi, Jaehyuk was setting the table and island, and Vera and Andre were standing at the stove. Walking closer while the others mingled, Ichigo and Renji could see that Andre was stirring a large pot of noddles while Vera cooked something that looked like eel.

"Hey guys!" Vera turned with a dazzling smile to the two men. "Sorry dinner isn't done yet, we kinda got a late start."

Ichigo pulled out the stool closest to him from under the island and Renji leaned against it with his elbows on the granite top. "Eh, it doesn't matter. How's your week been, have you started school yet?"

"Kinda boring, really. All we've really done is unpacked, ate, then unpacked some more. It's paid off, though, we're almost done." Vera shrugged, "We don't start until next semester, so we've been focusing on getting the studio up and running."

Renji shifted so his right foot was behind him with his left braced in front of him, "Huh? What studio?"

Taewon looked up from whatever it was he was rolling, "She didn't tell you? My family has an old dance school that we're restarting downtown." He hummed for a second, "It's sort of how we're paying for college."

"Does dance really pay that much?" Yumichika called over from where he was sitting at the far end of the table.

Vera had finished with the eel and nudged Taewon out of the way with her elbow to set down the plate and grab the bowl of veggies Soyi handed her, "He's not tellin' ya the whole story," She walked back, set the bowl down next to the stove, picked up the pan she had used, dropped it in one side of the sink, and grabbed a clean one off a hook on the wall. She turned the heat to high and dripped oil into it, "We're scholarship students, so most of our schooling is already paid for." The oil had reached the right temperature and she slowly dropped the veggies in, and they almost instantly started sizzling. Andre tested one of the noodles by biting a small piece off, and then wiggled what was left in front of Vera's nose; she responded by pushing him back by the forehead with her right pointer finger. He laughed and took the pot off the stove, draining the water in the sink.

"Go on, I can finish this up." He was still chuckling.

"C'mon, Ichigo, I have something for you." She flicked her hair out of her eyes.

"Huh, what is it?" She didn't answer, instead walking out of the kitchen. Ichigo and Renji gave each other a confused look, shrugged, and followed as fast as they could without running.

* * *

I lead the two guests up the stairs to the third floor, past the office and Jaehyuk's room, to the door at the end of the hall, which was painted a deep red and had one word in Cyrillic painted in white. _Bepa. _Hearing Renji whispering to Ichigo asking what I had for him, and Ichigo replying that he didn't know, I turned the knob and pushed the door open. I turned to lean against the doorjamb to let them see into the room. What light there was was dimmed; I had one of those tall, colorful multi-bulb lamps, and had draped colored scarves across the shades, casting spots of red, purple, and blue on the dark gray walls. There were strings of white Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling, and the sunset was barely visible through the gauzy curtains. My bed was unmade and pushed into a corner, and kiddy-corner on the other side of the room was a glass desk and tall oak bookcase, mostly full. There were collapsed boxes pushed against the walls, and only two still had anything in them.

I walked to the desk, and could sense that Ichigo and Renji were looking around the room while trying to not seem nosy. I picked up a crystal case with a CD in it and Ichigo's name written on the front in black Sharpie. I held it out to the bewildered teen, "Here."

His gaze went from me to the CD, and back again, "What is it?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes, "It's a CD. Ya know, ya put it in a boombox or something and listen to music?" The sarcasm wasn't intentional, but it was still there.

He hesitated before taking the CD from my hand. "Uh, thanks... What's on it?" Ichigo looked up at me in between his lashes.

_Damn, that kid is cute, and he doesn't even know it..._ "Just some new stuff from America. Fall Out Boy, Imagine Dragons, stuff like that." I started walking back to the dining room, "You said something about wanting to hear some of their stuff."

"Yeah, a _week_ ago in passing." I could hear their footsteps on the stairs behind me, "How did you even remember that?"

I shrugged, "I have a good memory, I guess." Ichigo passed me on the second flight, and Renji grabbed my elbow, spinning me around to face him. From where he was two step above he loomed over me. He leaned in close, his hot breath ghosting my cheeks.

"Whatever the hell you're doing to Ichigo, you'd better stop now. We're on to you, and this will be your only warning." he hissed.

I yanked my arm out of his grasp, "I have no idea what you are talking about." I glared at him for a few more seconds, then turned on my heel to join the others for dinner. It was only a half-truth.

* * *

Ichigo looked up from the platter of various sushi he had just placed on the table when Vera stalked into the dining room, proverbial storm cloud rumbling above her head, with Renji close behind and looking just as, if not more, pissed off. _What the hell is going on with those two? I just hope they can keep it together until dinner's done._

Andre placed the last dish, a large stoneware bowl of yakisoba, down on the table and called everyone over, "Alright, food's ready! You can sit pretty much where ever you want, since there isn't enough room at the table." Almost immediately he was swarmed as the large, hungry group surrounded the table to fill a plate with what they wanted.

The rest of the night was uneventful; calm, even. The guests and roommates spread out around the bottom level of the house; Soyi, Ururu, Yuzu, and Orihime sat in the living room; Yumichika, Ikakku, Jinta, and Jaehyuk had gone out to the back deck; Areum, Rangiku, Karin, and Yuroichi were on the last few steps of the first floor stairs; Taewon, Chad, and Hitsugaya were at the island. That left Ichigo, Renji, Urahara, Rukia, Tessia, Andre, and Vera the dining table. Renji had by now toned down the glare, and even laughed at a few of the jokes Vera had made. Most of the conversation was Urahara talking business with Vera and Andre, though.

Eventually, the vast amount of food was eaten or put away, and the dishwasher rumbled away with a load of dishes. The guests were pulling on their shoes or already standing outside, and when they were all out of the house and in the yard, Vera leaned with her ankles crossed against the jamb, "Consider my debt to you paid."

Urahara grinned, "So it is. Although, I do believe we'll be running into you sooner or later."

Vera gave the shopkeep a Cheshire grin, "There isn't a glimmer of doubt in my mind." Before another word could be said, she stood and kicked the door shut. Not wanting to dwell on the implications, Ichigo motioned to his sisters and Rukia, and they began the trek home.

* * *

The figure in black had given up on staying on top of the telephone pole, and leaned against it with its legs crossed. It watched the family flit from window to window in the brightly lit house. Every now and again, the voices of the father and son could be heard, yelling at each other over some little thing. _Their neighbors must hate them, _it thought.

It stayed like that, motionless, until VIXX's Hyde echoed from its pocket down the still street. It had forgotten to set its phone to silent. It reached back and tugged the offending object out, pressing the green icon to silence it. It listened quietly for a few seconds to the voice on the other end give their orders, then slipped the phone back in its pocket.

When it looked back up, the female teen with short, black hair was staring at it from one of the windows on the top level. She made no move to come out of the house, and the figure in black nodded politely, then turned to walk down the street. There was no noise of pursuit, and the figure in black moved on to its next assignment.

* * *

**Finally, a new chapter! Sorry this took so long, but something really sad happened to my family this weekend. My mom's eight-year-old cat had a really bad infection in her ear and had to be put down. I woke up the next morning, Valentine's Day, to find one of our two-week-old kittens had died in the night, and I was already really broken up over the other cat. After that happened, my best friend came over to spend the holiday with me, and I just really never got around to writing, so... Yeah... **

**Please leave a review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, nor do I own it's characters!**


	7. Close To Home

_**...Chapter Six: Close To Home...**_

Ichigo woke up too early for Isshin to come and scare him awake on Sunday, and had watched with a barely concealed smirk when his father opened the door and peaked around it, saw him, and walked away looking dejected. He laughed quietly, shaking his head, and rolled off his newly made bed and strode over to his desk. He picked up the crystal case Vera had given him and turned it over in his hands a few times. He opened the case and a square of paper fell out. Ichigo caught it before it hit the floor and read the typed words on one side. There were various songs and artists written on it, some he knew, others... Not so much. He assumed Vera had done it. He popped the CD into the laptop's disk tray, which he still had for some odd reason, and flopped back on his bed as the music started playing.

He listened to the first few songs in silence, understanding a word here, a sentence there, reading their titles on the paper. So What by P!nk. Hate by the Plain White T's. I May Fall from RWBY.

When track 8 started playing, something about it struck him as odd. He caught one line of it, and jumped up to pause the music. He read the name of the song, opened a web browser, and looked up the translated lyrics. Monster by Imagine Dragons. He looked for the line that had struck a chord with him and leaned back, dumbfounded, as he read it over and over.

_I never said that I want this/ This burden came to me_

_And it's made it's home inside me._

He read the chorus and was completely floored. Every word of it described what he felt all too well. He switched back to the media player and pressed play, then back to the web page and read as the song continued. By the end of the last verse he was shaking. The new kid, Shinji Hirako's, offer again went through his mind. As if on cue, he felt a far off flicker of Spiritual Pressure, and knew his decision was made for him. Ichigo also knew he wouldn't need to bring much with him, so he only packed two shirts and a clean pair of jeans in his messenger bag. Before he could rethink his choice, he slung the bag on his shoulder and walked as quietly as he could down the stairs and out the front door, pulling his sneakers on as he went. He had pushed the silver and red flash drive into his front pocket.

He walked through the brisk autumn air, on the now well known path to Urahara's shop. The door stood propped open, and soft music could be heard from the street, some rock band Renji had gotten interested in and Ichigo could never recall the name of. He stepped on the back of his shoes to pull them off, not a necessary thing but a habit that was hard to break, and set his bag next to them on the stoop. Renji had been absentmindedly sweeping the floor when he walked in, too absorbed in the music to really notice anything.

"Oi!" Ichigo yelled. Renji would never admit to it later, but he jumped at the shout.

Renji turned to glare at his friend, "What d'you want?"

Ichigo tugged the flash drive out of his pocket, "Can you give this to Vera, I'm pretty sure it's hers."

Renji's brown eyes narrowed, "And why should I do that?"

Ichigo growled in frustration, "Can you just stop that? Why d'you hate her anyway? What did she ever do to you?"

Renji stared him with an expression of exasperation, then rolled his eyes and moved to lean the broom against the wall, "I already told you, I don't hate her, I just don't trust her."

"Uh-huh." Ichigo deadpanned. Renji looked over at him but he just shrugged. "Anyway, I should get going."

"Wait, you're not gonna help me today?" Renji couldn't hide his disappointment.

"'Fraid not. Something came up, and I've been putting it off for a while now, so... I'll see ya soon, yeah?"

Renji nodded mutely and stood stock still as his friend retied his shoes and left the shop. Ichigo felt bad for not telling him what was going on, but knew that he, and any of the other Soul Reapers, would try to stop him, and this was something he needed to do, and it had to be done alone. He walked along in the late morning traffic, following the trace of Spiritual Pressure. It led him to the old industrial district, and he was surrounded by tall warehouses, many of which were falling into misuse. The Spiritual Pressure trail ended in front of a fairly intact building, and Ichigo paused with his hand on the door. He slowly inhaled and exhaled, then pushed the wide door open.

* * *

Renji watched Ichigo leave with pain in his eyes. Something was going very wrong in the teen's life, and he still hadn't opened up about what it was.

Renji shook the thought out of his mind, turned and grabbed the broom, and continued working with the only sound in the shop coming from the broom sweeping back and forth and the CD he had borrowed from Chad playing from the boombox in the corner. He didn't understand a word of it, it was all sung in English. He couldn't remember how to pronounce the band's name, it was some Finnish group that Chad had heard several years ago and gotten hooked on. He'd only worked for about ten minutes when the last person he wanted to talk to at the moment walked into the shop.

Vera came in and looked around for a second before spotting Renji attempting to hide behind a shelf in the back. _Damn my height..._

"Odd question." she said with an eyebrow raised.

Renji gave up the hiding place and walked back into the main part of the shop, straightening his tee-shirt to maintain some level of dignity. "Shoot."

"Why did Ichigo just sprint past my house like a bat out of Hell?" Renji studied her for a few seconds, but after seeing the genuine confusion in her eyes he decided she really had no clue what was going on.

"I wish I knew." He leaned against the wall of the shop with his hands in his pockets, avoiding her gaze, "He's not tellin' us anything."

Vera leaned her shoulder on the wall, facing the redhead, "Huh." She stuck her tongue in her cheek for a second, "Well... He didn't take much with him from what I saw, so he shouldn't be gone long, right?"

"Hm. Let's hope not." He pushed himself off the wall, "I'm just kinda pissed he left without helping me first. It was kinda our tradition to work together and do the chores around the shop on weekends. Oh, well, guess I'm on my own for now." He wiped his hands on his jeans and picked up the neon yellow broom once again. He brushed past the woman and swept the floor as thoroughly as he could in his rotten mood. He stopped rather abruptly when she passed him, florescent feather duster in hand. "What are you doing?"

She looked back at him, a challenge in her eyes, "Helping you." The _duh _was very heavily implied in her voice. "You said Ichigo normally helps you, and it's gotta be faster than working on your own." She started dusting the various shelves, and Renji figured there would be no way short of tossing her out the door and locking it behind her to stop her. He shrugged and placed the broom back in the corner it normally was hidden in and grabbed the mop and bucket he had already filled with soapy water and went over the floor again, being very careful not to leave puddles. The work was quick, and the shop was clean in less than half an hour.

"Hah." Vera sighed, resting her hands on her hips and gazing over the tidy space. "It's done!"

Renji couldn't help that smile that lit his face, "That it is. So, how am I going to pay you back for this?" He walked back from putting the mop in the corner and nearly ran into Vera as she tried to put the duster back on its hook on the wall. They both let out an awkward laugh and moved to the other side, but ended up going in the same direction. They did this four or five times, until Renji grabbed Vera's shoulders and shifted her in the opposite direction. It would have worked, too, if a black cat hadn't gone running in between their feet, tripping them up. Before they knew it, they had hit the ground with a scream and a painful _thump_.

Renji shook his head and looked down. He had landed on Vera. He _landed _on Vera._ He landed on Vera. _She grimaced and looked up, her expression becoming one of complete shock at the sight of Renji above her. They stared for a split second, then both rolled away, not looking at the other.

"Uh, so..." Vera cleared her throat. "You, uh, wanted to pay me back. How about lunch at my place?"

Renji tipped his head to the side, "Wouldn't that mean I would owe you even more?"

She shrugged, "Not if it's as a favor to me."

"And how is it a favor to you?"

"Maybe I just want to eat with someone new." She studied her knees intently, and Renji swore he saw her face flush pink.

Renji rocked from side to side as he thought, then said, loudly, "Well, alright then!" He stood and held a hand out to her; she took it and he pulled her to her feet, "Just don't poison my food, okay?"

One side of her mouth quirked up, "No promises. C'mon." She motioned him out of the shop and to the street. They didn't really talk much as they walked down the road, and Renji held the gate open for Vera. She nodded her thanks and walked quickly up the stone path and porch steps, Renji right behind her. She pushed open the wide front door and followed the sound of soft music after kicking off her flats. The sun shone through the sliding glass door and large windows, lighting up the airy living and dining rooms. Andre and Areum sat at the island holding cups of what smelled to be coffee. Andre looked up as the walked in and cracked a cheery grin.

"Hey, Ver! You brought a friend!" He stood and walked to one of the counters, on which stood a nearly full coffee pot and a mug tree. "Want some coffee?"

Renji shrugged. Vera chose the more dramatic answer, flopping down on the couch while yelling, "As black as my soul!"

The others in the room chuckled, and Andre asked with a straight face, "So, mostly milk and sugar, then?"

Vera rolled onto her stomach and glared at him, "Y'know, from anyone else, that would be a compliment."

Andre raised an eyebrow, "But not from me?"

"Not even close." Vera smiled and hopped off the couch, striding into the kitchen and pulling various ingredients out of the fridge, "We'll need to go shopping soon."

Andre had poured the coffee for both Vera and Renji, placing a jar of sugar and a jug of vanilla coffee creamer on the island. Renji watched their exchange with great amusement and pulled the stool next to Areum out from under the island. When he did, she looked up and gave him a tired smile, then rested her head on her folded arms again.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, headache."

He nodded, then remembered she couldn't see him, "Anything I can do?"

Areum didn't sit up, but rested her chin on her wrist so Renji could at least see her face. "D'you remember where the bathroom is on the second floor?"

"Uh-huh."

"Can you go get two Advil out of the medicine cabinet, please?"

"Sure." He walked as quietly as he could out of the room and up the stairs, down the hall, and to the open door of the bathroom. He found the pain medication quickly, and just as quickly went back down the stairs and handed the pills to Areum. By the time he was back, Vera had finished constructing the sandwiches she had been making, and handed a plate to Renji, grabbed two sodas out of the fridge, tucked them under her arm, picked up her coffee, and led the way to her room.

* * *

**Okay, so the focus is going to shift to Renji for a while. I'm pretty sure you all know who the black cat was that tripped them... Please leave a review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, not do I own it's characters!**


	8. Two Can Keep A Secret

_**...Chapter Seven: Two Can Keep A Secret...**_

Vera had claimed the bed, so Renji sat in the swivel desk chair, twisting from side to side waiting for the girl to settle down. She sure squirmed a lot, but he was having quite a bit of fun watching her shift back and forth like Yoruichi in cat form trying to find the most comfortable spot to sit or sleep. She finally stopped wiggling near the end of the bed with her legs crossed under her. Renji rolled his eyes and looked down at the ham, turkey, and cheese sandwich with the works she had given him.

"You didn't spit in this, did you?" Renji asked dryly.

Vera snorted and popped the tab on her soda, "Please. I'm not that much of a bitch."

"Oh, really?" he snickered and she threw a pencil at him, narrowly missing his ear. Renji reached down and picked up his soda from the floor, cracked open the top, and sipped the fizzy drink. Cola, yum. "So then, how much of a bitch are you?"

Vera looked up at him through her lashes, the amber of her eyes now laced with jet. "A girl must keep some secrets."

* * *

I watched Renji scarf down his food, barely touching my grilled tuna sandwich. It was my favorite, but I wasn't really hungry. He looked up and my eyes darted down and I grabbed my sandwich and took a bite. If I hadn't, it no doubt would have led to uncomfortable questions.

"So," he set his plate behind him on my desk and I tensed up, "what's goin' on with Areum?"

I sighed in relief. That wasn't what I had been expecting, "She has chronic migraines. She wakes up with them every now and again."

His eyebrows scrunched together, "Then why was she drinking coffee? Wouldn't caffeine make it worse?"

"Headaches, yes." I shrugged, "Migraines are different."

"Huh." He looked confused, but just took a long drink from his soda. I ate another bite, but the food was bland to me.

"I'll be right back." Renji gave me a confused look when I stood, shrugged, and continued eating his lunch. I bounded out of my room and down the two flights of stairs, into the kitchen. Areum and Andre were gone, and a note was taped to the fridge. It was written in Russian.

_Hey, Ver! I'm taking Areum out for lunch, don't know when we'll be back. She's feeling better, so don't worry yourself about her._

_~Andre_

I smiled at his wobbly Cyrillic, tucked the scrap of paper into my pocket, and opened the fridge. I poked around for a minute, finally settling on an eighth of a Korean pear, and was about to shut the door and head back upstairs when something blue caught my eye. I grabbed that as well and shut the door with my butt, speed-walking up to my room. Upon opening the door, I saw Renji poking around my bookcase, reading the various titles in different languages. I leaned on the door frame, watching his brows scrunch together at one in English and laughed. He jumped and whipped around to face me, an expression of embarrassment on his face.

"Find something interesting?" I pushed myself off the door and walked over to him. My lamp cast a blue blob of light on the books.

"Uh. Yeah," he pulled out the book he had been looking at, "What's this one?" Renji held out the thick, red leather-bound book to me.

"_Anna Karenina_. Do you speak English?" He shook his head, "Oh. I was going to loan it to you if you did. Is there a genre you prefer?" I asked innocently.

He thought for a few seconds, "Er... Adventure?" He added a questioning lilt to the word. I couldn't help but chuckle at his response.

"Well," I searched through the shelves, "What about this one? It's called _The Great Tree of Avalon._ It's been translated from English, but it's pretty accurate."

* * *

Renji pursed his lips, shrugged, and took the book from Vera. He turned to sit back in the desk chair and saw the digital clock next to her computer. It was past two. "I should be going."

Vera's face fell, "Oh. Okay, get home safe." she mumbled. As he was walking out she shouted after him, "Wait!"

"What is it?" He looked over his shoulder with his hand on the railing.

"Here." She held out a cupcake with bright blue frosting. "Thanks for coming over." Vera's voice wasn't more than a whisper and she spoke to her feet, not meeting Renji's eyes as he took the cupcake with a small smile and left. When he got back to Urahara's, the other Soul Reapers were there, being loud and annoying as always. Renji rolled his eyes and plunked down next to Rukia, who was watching Rangiku, Yumichika, and Ikkaku argue over something stupid. Was anyone surprised?

Renji opened his new book to the first page and took a bite of the cupcake, right as Rukia turned to talk to him. "Hey! Where'd you get that, and why aren't you sharing?"

"Vera gave it to me, and it's mine so back off." For some reason her asking for a bite really annoyed him. He saw her pout and the odd looks the other three were giving each other, but he didn't care. Hitsugaya sat in the emo corner and watched it all play out in silence. Again, was anyone surprised?

* * *

The figure in black ended its newest call. A demon was in the west end of the city hunting the souls of children. The figure in black jogged out from the shade of the trees in the public park around the corner from the orange-haired teens house. It had gotten bored watching ailing customers come in and out of the families clinic and had gone for a walk when its phone buzzed. After last week's mistake, it had been keeping its phone on silent at all times. Kind of annoying when a call came in and it didn't have its phone anywhere near it, but whatever.

The figure in black reached the edge of the city as the sun dipped below the horizon, and a scream rang out through the trees. The figure in black tensed and drew the twin daggers from the sheathes hidden in its boots. It held the single-edged daggers against its arms, sharpened edge out.

A young child, glowing like fog in candlelight, ran out of the trees, followed by a monstrous shape. The demon was probably the ugliest thing the figure in black had ever seen, and was at least five times bigger than the figure.

"Hey! Ugly, over here!" The figure shouted out, and the horrible _thing _turned, abandoning its pursuit of the child's soul. It lashed out, a giant claw speeding towards the figure in black. They just jumped over it, flipping back and skidding to a halt in the dirt. The demon didn't react very fast, and the figure jumped forward and up, plunging its daggers under the demon's shoulder blades, and using the last of its momentum to plant its feet on the demon's back and push off with another flip over the demon's head. The figure in black landed with one leg bent under it and the other stretched out, one hand on the ground and the other on its knee for balance. It heard and felt the demon dissolve, the souls it had eaten cleansed and freed.

The figure stood with practiced grace, daggers once again stowed in their sheathes. It nodded to the kid's soul and started to walk home when a shout rang out behind it, "Hey, you! Who are you?!" The figure froze. It knew that voice. The loud redhead that the orange-haired teen was almost always around. The figure in black turned slowly, hood still over its eyes and face in shadow. Standing on the path behind it was the redhead, the tall blonde female, and the bald Soul Reaper. The figure did the one thing it could think of in the tight situation.

It turned back around and sprinted away, warping the air to give it an extra boost of speed.

* * *

**Short chapter is short... Anyway, leave a review and tell me what you think!  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, nor do I own it's characters!**


	9. Face Your Fears

_**...Chapter Eight: Face Your Fears...**_

The figure in black sprinted for all it was worth past trees and buildings, the park and streets deserted. That immediately raised suspicion. Karakura wasn't as densely populated as Tokyo, but it did have a fair amount of nightlife. The heels of its boots were muffled by the wind it surrounded itself in, but the sharp slap of sandals still carried.

"Stop! We just want to talk!" _Like hell you do._ "Please, hold up!" the redhead shouted after the figure in black.

Then, it noticed something. Whenever it would attempt to turn down a specific side street, another Soul Reaper would pop out and block its path, causing the figure in black to turn down another or continue straight.

The figure in black was being herded.

As it came to this conclusion, the figure in black nearly face-planted into a brick wall. It growled under its breath and turned back, less than ten feet from the Soul Reapers blocking the exit. The figure in black reached into its jacket pocket, extracting a small orb. The Soul Reapers didn't even notice.

"Now," the bald one sheathed his sword, "who are you?"

The figure in black snorted and brought its hand forward, throwing the orb to the ground. The area was soon blanketed in a thick, blueish fog, and the Soul Reapers began coughing at the cloyingly sweet scent. By the time it dissipated, the one they had been chasing would be gone.

Said figure landed with a noisy thump and a groan of pain, its multicolored lamp casting strange shadows on the bookcase, the titles reflecting the light in several different languages.

"Everything okay up there?" One of its housemates was shouting from the kitchen.

"Yeah! I'm fine!" The figure finally took off its hood, shaking long black and red hair out of its eyes.

* * *

Renji slumped into the dining room the next morning, ignoring the loud yammering of Ururu and Jinta in favor of the thought that he had recognized the hunter's voice from the night before. It sounded distinctly female with a hint of a lilting music to it. Like whomever it had been was used to singing or public speaking. But, most of all, he felt he knew the woman's voice. He just couldn't quite place it.

"Renji?" He jumped at the sound of Rukia's voice. He had been staring at his food, and everyone else had already left the table.

"H-hey," he stuttered, "What're you doin' here so early?"

Rukia rolled her violet eyes, "It's almost noon, and you never showed up to school. Sensei sent me to find you, doofus."

Renji snorted at the unflattering nickname. "What's the point now, when there's only three classes left?"

Rukia grinned and plunked down next to her best childhood friend, "I know. But it was an excuse to get out of them, so here I am."

"So here you are," Renji laughed. The pair drifted into a companionable silence, just happy to be in each others presence. It had been quite some time since they had been able to do this, long before Rukia's false arrest, long before Aizen had shown his true colors. It was... nice, if awkward on Renji's part. Rukia didn't even have a clue.

"Sorry for snapping at you yesterday," Renji muttered, the first thing said in about ten minutes.

"Eh, it's fine. It's not often we get treats like that, so not wanting to share is understandable." She snickered, making Renji wonder what she was really thinking.

"Is that so?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

"Especially when it come from your crush!" She was outright laughing at this point.

"_What?!_ Vera's not my crush!" he insisted.

"Oh, _really?_" Rukia's lips were quirked into a playful half-smile.

"_No!_ I mean, yes, really. I don't like her at all." Renji stuttered, indignant.

"That explains you hanging out with her for several hours, at her house might I add. _Alone._ Now, doesn't that sound like you have a _little _crush? She's cute, and definitely punkish enough for you." Rukia had no intention of letting this go.

"That was recon, nothing more." If only Rukia knew the truth. Then she might leave him alone about this.

Rukia gave her friend one last knowing, wolfish smirk, "O~kay, if you're so sure," she practically sang, then turned serious. It never ceased to amaze Renji how quickly she could go from play to business. "On another note, Rangiku told me about last night."

"Did she, now?" Renji trained his expression to a mask of indifference.

"Um-hm, and she said you almost caught Ichigo's stalker."

Renji winced, "Yeah... Almost. She got away."

_"She!"_ Rukia voice rose dramatically and she jumped up. "It's a woman?! How did you find out, did you see her fa-" Rukia was cut off by the sound of a thump out in the shop. The Soul Reapers slowly turned to stare wide-eyed at each other, then sprinted out of the main house to find Andre in the shop, picking up a stack of papers that had been knocked off the main counter.

"Andre?" Rukia called, and the blonde jumped, dropping the papers again. "What are you doing he-"

"Have you seen Vera?" Rukia was cut off for the second time in five minutes. Her mouth hung open at Andre's question and her voice faltered.

"I... I'm sorry, what?"

"Have you two seen Vera?" Andre repeated, panic evident in his voice. "She came home pretty late last night, and I couldn't find her this morning. I've been looking everywhere, but I still can't find her."

Rukia walked up to the frantic man and rested a hand on his arm, "Just stay calm. We'll help you look." Andre sighed nervously and nodded. "Where haven't you gone?"

"Um," he thought for a minute, "The main shopping center and the university. They're the only places that make sense for her to be at."

Rukia smiled calmly, "Then we'll start there." She turned to the bewildered redhead. _Since when had she been so mature? _"Renji, let's go," she barked out, to which he nodded and brushed past the others, stepping into his shoes at the stoop. Rukia did the same, and Andre was still wearing his.

They hadn't been out long before they passed the park Renji had seen the hunter in. He wasn't really paying attention, and jolted to a stop, running into Andre's back when he caught sight of a flash of long black and red hair.

Vera was on the other side of the vast lawn, playing fetch with a large, dark-furred Husky.

* * *

**Short chapter is short... Welp, I haven't updated in about a month. Feel free to hate me now.  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, nor do I own its characters!**


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